A note from the Author
Hello fellow model makers! I’m John and, although I’m no expert at all – just a car enthusiast and keen model maker – but I always strive to improve and achieve the best results I can. I’ve built models from being a youngster – competition/sports cars of the 60’s/70’s are my number 1 ‘thing’ – and now I’m fully retired I can put the extra hours into this wonderful hobby.
Tamiya 1/24 Lotus Europa Special (2020) – Mini Review
What we have here is a very recent release from Tamiya – in it’s re-boxed, with new parts, format. To the best of my knowledge the original release was about 30 years ago – and now we have this kit with new parts, including photo-etch, metal suspension springs, seat belts (choice of 4 colours), superb decals, metal transfers etc. As always with Tamiya this is very neatly packaged model with the usual clear instruction booklet.
I was really looking forward to building this kit as soon as I saw it announced last year. A friend of mine owned one of these back in the day – not the ‘Special’ version – but it was certainly a special car – bright yellow and the lowest car I have ever driven to this day! And, in my limited experience, the most difficult car ever to get out of….!
I haven’t done a full build review for this kit, but I have included photo’s of some of the main stages of the build to show some of the detail that gets hidden on final completion. Just to say, at this stage, that this is a super little model kit – and, built out of the box, looks just great. The only ‘extra’ I added were some plug leads.
Some stages of the build
I used Tamiya Lacquer Paints throughout and used clear lacquer after the decals had been applied. I thought the gold coach line decal scheme might be a bit of a nightmare – but it wasn’t. The decals were superbly accurate and behaved themselves perfectly. A buffing over brought up the shine. Some of you eagle-eyed modellers may have noticed there is no metal windscreen frame here – I opted for the black rubber seal look simply because anything less than a perfect metal finish against the black paint would ruin the look for me. But I’m sure there will be plenty of folk out there who can do a really good job of it!! I also tried to bring the rather thickly moulded steering wheel to life – but failed miserably! A detail up replacement would be perfect.
The completed model
Overall comments
I can’t fault or nit-pick this model at all. Every part of it is up to the usual (and expected) high quality from Tamiya in every way and the ‘extras’ in this kit really make a difference. The metal induction funnels are a nice touch, as is the self adhesive sheet of seat belts – together with the PE buckles . There are PE grills for the front and back. Additionally there are metal ‘transfers’ for the rear Lotus logo and a few other badging items. It can be built as a non-special version without the rear wing, and in non-JPS livery. There’s a choice of ‘Minilite’ or black/polished alloy wheels. Excellent.
So – overall – a really neat and cool model in every way.
Highly recommended.
Happy modelling!